The Daughter Of A Death Eater, Loved By A Saint
by Elle Winters
Summary: Ariel is 16 years old and in this most awkward situation imaginable the daughter of a wanted death eater she could easily be dismissed.But in her also runs the blood of a saint...Now she must protect the one person who hates Death EatersHarry Potter
1. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Ariel sat on the bottom step of the staircase leading up to the first floor. She glanced worriedly at the clock for the hundredth time that day, trying to calculate how long the owl she had sent him had been away, and whether it would ever come back with a response.

She looked down at the necklace she was twisting fretfully between her fingers, the silver 'D' carved ornately into the emerald stone catching the light from time to time, casting an eerie glow in the hall surrounding her.

The clock chimed 3am and Ariel heaved a deep sigh. Grabbing the hand-rail, she heaved herself to her feet and padded into the kitchen, waving her hand as she went, so that the lights switched on and she was able to see what she was doing. She opened a cupboard and got out a glass, which she set on the work surface, then turned round and headed to the fridge. She pulled open the door and searched for something to settle her stomach, which was twisting itself into knots of worry as she became more and more agitated. She finally settled on having a glass of milk and a cookie, although she doubted it would have much effect. Just as she closed the fridge door, she heard a loud crack! and the sound of urgent voices outside. The milk slipped from her grasp and smashed onto the floor, sending waves of cool milk all over her feet, but Ariel paid it no attention as she was already racing to the front door, her eyes wide with apprehension. But before she could even seize the handle, the door burst open, and a man with black hair and grey eyes stormed in, followed in an instant by a young man, who was shaking so badly that he was in danger of collapsing from shock. Ariel watched open-mouthed as they flew by, but knew not to step in.

She followed them slowly into the living room, where the dark haired man had laid the now unconscious boy on the sofa, and was muttering healing charms whilst waving his wand over the boy.

Ariel watched in fascination as the wounds littering his face and arms knitted together and healed, leaving no mark to suggest they'd ever been there at all.

The dark haired man turned round to look at Ariel. They stared at each other for a moment, and Ariel knew something terrible had happened. Before she had time to ask what, the man said in a low voice, "Not now Ariel. I need you to go to the potion store-room and find me a dreamless sleep potion. If he does not take one," He said bitterly, indicating the unconscious boy next to him, "He is never going to return to even a shadow of his former-self. He will be plagued with nightmares so terrible, you cannot even begin to imagine."

Ariel nodded, despite her urgent need for answers, and hurried out of the room, glancing back just in time to see the man put his face in his hands, and slide-down the wall behind him. Her body screamed at her to turn around and go back and check if he was ok, but her head was telling her that the task he had just asked her to perform was more important than his well-being at that moment in time.

She dashed back the way she came, and bounded up the stairs two at a time, and skidded to a stop in front of a stained door which she pushed open and hurriedly made her way through the rows of potions, looking with increasing panic for the dreamless sleep potion. Realising with disgust that she needn't even search for the potion, she cried "_Accio potion_" whilst thrusting her right arm above her head. The potion flew into her open palm, and she spun around, and raced to the open door. She dived down the stairs, and re-entered the living room, gasping for breath, as she held out the potion for the man to dose the boy on the sofa with.

He took it unsmilingly, and propped up the boy's head, whilst simultaneously opening his mouth, and poured the entire content of the potion into it. He waved his wand again so that the boy swallowed it then gently lowered his head back onto the sofa.

He continued to stare at the boy, his face clouding over with remorse and despair. Suddenly all the ornaments in the room exploded and the doors came free of their hinges. Ariel ducked as pictures flew off the walls and vases smashed all around her. Ariel wondered what had happened to cause this complete loss of control in the man in front of her.

Just as a chair was about to knock her off her feet Ariel raised her hands in front of her, palms forward, and everything in the room, apart from her and the dark haired man, froze.

Kneeling down she looked at the man, who had bowed his head and was letting out dry sobs, and pushed his hair away from his face.

"Dad," she said gently, "What happened?"

Severus Snape looked up at her and replied, "He's dead."


	2. Realisations

Severus Snape saw his sixteen year old daughter's emerald eyes widen.

"No," she stated, shaking her head, as though it would make his words become untrue. "No! It can't... It's not true… It can't be!"

"Ariel I'm sorry," said Severus softly.

Ariel scrambled to her feet and backed away from him.

"No," she repeated. "No, no, no, no, NOOOO!!!"

Severus watched as she screamed at him, tears falling in torrents down her beautiful face, her ebony hair flying in all directions as she continued to shake her head.

Severus rose from the floor and went to her, grabbing her flailing arms and tried to comfort her.

"Ariel, sweetheart, I am so so sorry-"

"Daddy, please," she sobbed looking into his eyes, pleading. "Please, please tell me you're lying, PLEASE!"

Severus looked away from her tear-stained face, closing his eyes at the painful tugging on his heart as guilt and remorse set in.

He looked back at Ariel and reached out to brush away a strand of stray hair that had fallen over her eyes.

"I am not. He is gone. He is dead."

Ariel took a great shuddering gasp as the full impact of his words hit her.

The man who was supposed to save them all from Voldermort was gone. What hope did they have now?! Despair coursed through her as acceptance took hold. Never again was she going to be able to look into those sparkling blue eyes, bask in the warmth of that comforting smile. No more being able to run to this extraordinary man with what seemed like an unsolvable problem then be reassured that there was a way to fix it and that there was nothing to worry about. No more him. No more good.

Ariel took short, sharp breaths as she tried not to hyperventilate.

Severus realised she was on the verge of a panic attack and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as she cried loudly into his shoulder, sobs racking her entire body.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, Severus holding his daughter as she cried, his mind whirring away in his head as images of the night flashed through his head, exploding like fireworks in his minds-eye:

Flitwick rushing into his office to tell him that Death Eaters had gotten inside the school; stupefying Flitwick, so as to get to the top of the tower unhindered; telling Granger and Lovegood that Flitwick had fainted; running straight through the barrier the Death Eaters had cast; arriving at the top of the tower and seeing Dumbledore slumped against a wall, surrounded by Death Eaters; Draco standing there, his wand outstretched but unable to do it; he remembered how his heart had sank as he realised what he was going to have to do; the look on Dumbledore's face as he uttered those life-ending words…

After a while Ariel's tears subsided as she regained her composure. Severus released her from his hold and she went and sat down in one of the armchairs occupying the room, waving her hand as she went, unfreezing the objects that were suspended in midair, which dropped and clattered harmlessly to the floor.

Severus watched her sit down with a sense of foreboding in his stomach. Soon she was going to start asking questions and demanding answers. And he would have to give them; he couldn't lie – he knew that the story would be all over the morning papers anyway and it would be far better for her to hear from him what happened than to discover from short snippets of blaring headlines that he was a murderer, that he had killed Albus Dumbledore, good's answer to evil. The only person who could rival Voldermort. The man who had shown him mercy when no one else would have. The man who had shown compassion for everyone, good or bad, rich or poor, pure-blood or muggle born. He was dead and Severus had killed him and he knew that he would never be able to forgive himself for that. He didn't expect anyone else to either. Least of all Ariel…


End file.
